http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=3019

I'm alive

but just incredibly busy with classwork lately.

Read the Mirror!

www.thedartmouth.com

WWP

Walking from Penn Station to work, I came upon this event gearing up and snapped some photos via phone.

The Soldier Ride, at its core, is a rehabilitative cycling event designed to challenge our wounded warriors to get back in the saddle, both literally and figuratively, and is a tool to help both the physical and mental wounds of war. These rides also help to raise awareness for the WWP mission and our many important programs designed to serve our injured and their families, and in turn raise money through sponsorships, pledges and donations for WWP.

@the New Broadway
Such fit, strong women!

A bit of pre-race lounging
I admire them.

See the riding schedule here.

Pandas, Wildlife Conservation, China, Economics

New Scientist did an interview with Lü Zhi, the director of the Center for Nature and Society at Peking University, Beijing, China. She has studied pandas for two decades, served as the director of the World Wide Fund for Nature's panda conservation programme and runs the conservation NGO Shan Shui.

Are attitudes to the environment in China changing as people's wealth increases?

There are two trends. One is a greater awareness. For instance, a group of young Chinese entrepreneurs is calling for an end to the consumption of shark fin soup. But there is also a rise in the number of affluent people who want to show off their wealth. Eating wildlife is a part of Chinese culture, so when people get richer they eat more wildlife. They need something to persuade them. I think culture is the most effective tool. A respect for life is part of the Buddhist tradition, which has had a big influence on Chinese culture, though sometimes people forget it.

Is it weird that this is nearly exactly how I feel? I want the shark fin soup (yum) but I want the shark too. (I want to make a joke here that somehow combines the phrases "have your cake and eat it too" and "jumped the shark".) She also talks about the role of economics and markets in the future of conservation:

Is this new economic system in place?

In some provinces of China, GDP is not the only measure of development. The economic value of ecosystems, such as the carbon dioxide absorbance of forests, are factored in. At Shan Shui, the NGO I run, we want to show specific things that can be implemented, such as water users paying a proportion of their water-use fee to subsidise forest conservation upstream. It's a market-based attempt at conservation.

What comes next?

To work with economists. I recently went to a forum to brainstorm issues to be discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In one discussion there were 30 to 40 people focusing on the economy and me, with my focus on ecology. I looked out for how often they mentioned biodiversity or conservation. Neither term was mentioned. That was a reality check for me. I think the next step is to work with economists, otherwise we conservationists are just talking to ourselves.

I love this intersection between environment and economics. And China and international affairs too, I guess. Haha what a great article to send me. Thanks, fans!

Read the article here.

Aerospace Engineering is Literally Rocket Science

Payscale, a site that collects data on salaries for different professions, conducted a study over the last year and here are the results. Note that the numbers are from 1.2 million users of PayScale's site who self-reported their salaries and educational credentials in a PayScale survey over the last year. From Yahoo Finance:


Some highlights from the data:

• Dartmouth College has the highest median mid-career salary (defined as salary at 10 years or greater after graduation).
• Loma Linda University has the highest median starting salary (defined as salaries within five years of graduation), a function of their strong programs in nursing, dental and allied health.
• In general, engineering schools produced the best starting salaries, and represented eight out of the top 10 schools in starting salary. On the other hand, Ivy League Schools are the best bet for mid-career pay, with five out of the top 10.
• Majors matter. Quantitative-oriented degrees -- like engineering, science, mathematics and economics -- filled most of the top 20 slots in both highest starting median salaries and highest mid-career median salaries.

• Economics majors have the fifth highest mid-career median salary, the 17th-highest starting salary, and the highest salary at the 90th percentile, mid-career mark.
• Some of the major/department numbers may fool you, though.

For example, who would have thought that philosophy majors in mid-career would earn more than information technology majors in mid-career? This is probably because students who major in philosophy are more likely to go to elite schools, whereas students who major in I.T. are likely to go to pre-professional-type schools that don't even offer philosophy as a major, Mr. Lee says. So it's not really the choice of major that's making the difference -- it's the school.

"A student's choice of major has a huge impact mid-career, enormous," says Mr. Lee. "But you generally don't see people majoring in philosophy" -- or other "soft" majors, he says -- "except in top schools."

That said, here are the bottom 10 majors by mid-career salary:

Read the article at Yahoo finance.
And glance at the full stats list here.

Preview a portion of the list:

School Name	School Type	Starting Median Salary	Mid-Career Median Salary
Loading...
Dartmouth College	Ivy League	$58,200	$129,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	Engineering	$71,100	$126,000
Harvard University	Ivy League	$60,000	$126,000
Harvey Mudd College	Engineering	$71,000	$125,000
Stanford University	Engineering	$67,500	$124,000
Princeton University	Ivy League	$65,000	$124,000
Colgate University	Liberal Arts	$51,900	$122,000
University of Notre Dame	Private	$55,300	$121,000
Yale University	Ivy League	$56,000	$120,000
University of Pennsylvania	Ivy League	$60,400	$118,000
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)	Engineering	$62,500	$116,000
Duke University	Private	$56,800	$116,000
Bucknell University	Engineering	$56,100	$116,000
Bucknell University	Liberal Arts	$56,100	$116,000
California Institute of Technology (CIT)	Engineering	$69,700	$115,000
Polytechnic University of New York, Brooklyn	Engineering	$62,700	$114,000
Lehigh University	Engineering	$57,400	$114,000
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)	Engineering	$65,300	$113,000
University of California, Berkeley	Engineering	$57,100	$112,000
University of California, Berkeley	State Schools	$57,100	$112,000
Santa Clara University	Private	$58,000	$111,000
Georgetown University	Private	$57,000	$111,000
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)	Engineering	$61,100	$110,000
Swarthmore College	Liberal Arts	$55,900	$110,000
Colorado School of Mines	Engineering	$60,000	$109,000
Colorado School of Mines	State Schools	$60,000	$109,000
Manhattan College	Private	$56,100	$109,000
Amherst College	Liberal Arts	$54,900	$109,000
Haverford College	Liberal Arts	$46,200	$109,000
Brown University	Ivy League	$52,300	$107,000
University Of Chicago	Private	$51,700	$107,000
Cornell University	Engineering	$58,000	$106,000
Cornell University	Ivy League	$58,000	$106,000
Lafayette College	Liberal Arts	$53,700	$106,000
Bowdoin College	Liberal Arts	$52,700	$106,000
Georgia Institute of Technology	Engineering	$58,900	$105,000
Georgia Institute of Technology	State Schools	$58,900	$105,000
Rice University	Private	$57,900	$105,000
Tufts University	Private	$48,200	$105,000
Dickinson College	Liberal Arts	$44,000	$105,000
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)	Engineering	$55,100	$104,000
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)	State Schools	$55,100	$104,000
Washington and Lee University	Liberal Arts	$51,800	$104,000
College of the Holy Cross	Liberal Arts	$46,600	$104,000
Carleton College	Liberal Arts	$45,400	$104,000
University of Southern California (USC)	Private	$54,600	$103,000
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)	State Schools	$50,700	$103,000
Williams College	Liberal Arts	$49,400	$103,000
Davidson College	Liberal Arts	$45,800	$103,000
Cooper Union	Engineering	$61,100	$102,000
Claremont McKenna College	Liberal Arts	$58,300	$102,000
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (CalPoly)	Engineering	$57,000	$102,000
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (CalPoly)	State Schools	$57,000	$102,000
Fairfield University	Private	$50,400	$102,000
Stevens Institute of Technology	Engineering	$59,400	$101,000
Boston College	Private	$51,500	$101,000
Bates College	Liberal Arts	$46,400	$101,000
Fordham University	Private	$46,100	$101,000
Columbia University	Ivy League	$57,300	$100,000
Vanderbilt University	Private	$51,800	$100,000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)	Engineering	$53,900	$99,700
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)	Party Schools	$53,900	$99,700
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)	State Schools	$53,900	$99,700
Middlebury College	Liberal Arts	$45,000	$99,200
Villanova University	Engineering	$56,700	$99,000
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT)	Engineering	$61,100	$98,800
Tulane University	Party Schools	$47,800	$98,800
Clarkson University	Engineering	$55,400	$98,500
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	Party Schools	$49,700	$98,400
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	State Schools	$49,700	$98,400
Drexel University	Private	$54,100	$98,000
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)	Engineering	$57,400	$97,600
Case Western Reserve University	Engineering	$56,500	$97,500
Pomona College	Liberal Arts	$50,500	$97,500
Iona College	Private	$47,200	$97,500
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)	Engineering	$52,900	$97,400
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)	State Schools	$52,900	$97,400
George Washington University (GWU)	Private	$48,200	$97,300
Loyola College in Maryland	Liberal Arts	$45,000	$97,300
University of Virginia (UVA)	State Schools	$52,200	$97,200
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)	State Schools	$51,600	$97,000
Southern Methodist University (SMU)	Private	$48,600	$96,900
Connecticut College	Liberal Arts	$42,500	$96,800
San Jose State University (SJSU)	State Schools	$53,400	$96,300
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech)	Engineering	$51,700	$96,300
Miami University	State Schools	$47,100	$96,100
Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut)	Liberal Arts	$46,300	$95,700
Occidental College	Liberal Arts	$45,300	$95,700
University of California, Davis (UC Davis)	State Schools	$51,200	$95,400
St. John's University, New York	Private	$50,000	$95,400
Loyola Marymount University	Private	$43,500	$95,400
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T)	Engineering	$57,300	$95,200
Texas A&M University	State Schools	$51,100	$95,000
Johns Hopkins University	Engineering	$57,800	$94,900
New York University (NYU)	Private	$49,600	$94,900
Kettering University	Engineering	$57,900	$94,500
Emory University	Private	$50,600	$94,300
University of Colorado - Boulder (UCB)	Party Schools	$47,100	$94,300

Jimmy Choo at H&M

OMG! Jimmy Choo is releasing a capsule collection at H&M... ok, this is a collection I can get behind. I can't wait to see the to-be-leaked photos. It will be launched in 200 H&M stores on Nov. 14. Unfortunately, there are currently 0 H&M store in Hanover.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124522785484222715.html

Japanese TV Show + Daniel Radcliffe = Simply Amazing

Urban Outfitters Now Sells Fixed Gear Bikes

http://www.thefader.com/2009/07/15/urban-outfitters-now-sells-fixed-gear-bikes/

No shit... guess this means everyone knows about fixies now. These bikes are pretty cool, I must admit -- there's only one (fixed?) chain, so when you pedal backwards, the bike goes backwards. And you can ride on one wheel, control everything about the bike. Similar to a stick-shift car, I'd imagine. That's about the extent of my knowledge though, and I basically dated one for about a month. Pictured above is a rather cool-looking fixie -- Nike-commissioned in '08 for a celebration of their Air Force 1 shoe, of all things.

As part of the AF1 Silver Service installation at Dover Street Market, the Wilson Brothers (Ben and Oscar) have created a traditionally lugged, steel–framed fixed wheel bicycle. This bespoke, hand-crafted piece draws inspiration from the track and captures the essence of what’s happening on the streets today. The bicycle has been added to the curation at Dover Street Market which celebrates 25 years of the iconic Air Force 1.

Oh, to be an onlooker in this culture.

And the comments on this article are hilarious, not sure whose side I should be on...

1. Johny Johnston Says:
   July 15th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

   This is un-FUCKING-real… Someone has finally packaged up Coolness all nice and ready for you ride. No need for individuality or preference or knowledge of cycling, this will guide you right past all of that… YOU TOO CAN NOW FINALLY BE HIP AND COOL ON YOUR FIXIE!

2. billy parnham Says:
   July 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

   i don’t remember much of an uproar from the community when you could buy skateboards at chain stores.

   just shows how entitled and self absorbed the fixie crowd is. guess it’s on to the next thing for you guys.